Apparatus for improved shipping of crude oil relative to environment damage and ecological problems

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for improving the shipment of crude oil, in order to avoid ecological problems and damage to environment, by freezing the oil into units which are shipped preferably through a pipeline by means of pneumatic pressure or through lines in which are provided mechanical devices such as conveyors or rollers. The oil can be frozen by itself into units or can be loaded into frozen and appropriately shaped ice containers. Alternative to or in combination with the aforementioned lines, vehicles may be employed and part of the route may be covered by the use of gravity. The apparatus may include stations intermediate the source and terminal stations at which refreezing and reshaping operations take place.

United States Patent 91 r [111 3,864,935 Elson v I [451 Feb. 11, 1975 1 APPARATUS FOR IMPROVED SHIPPING OTHER PUBLICATIONS OF CRUDE OIL RELATIVE TO ENVIRONMENT DAMAGE AND I Q lL t s heo y o Eg lsions and Their v Techhical Treatment, p. 1 85, (1943 ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS A. E. Dunston et al., The Science of Petroleum, [76] Inventor: Jesse M. Elson, 138 E. Washington (1938), p. 2,706.

, Ave., Pearl River, NY. 10965 [22] Filed: Man 22, 1973 Primary Examiner-Meyer Perlin Assistant Examiner-Ronald C. Capossela PP O- 3 3,925 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Roberts & Cohen 52 11.5. C1 62/356, 62/60, 137/13, ABSTRACT 14 An apparatus for improving the shipment of crude oil, [51] Int. Cl. F25c l/04 in order to avoid ecological problems and damage to [58] Field M Searc 55, environment, by freezing the oil into units which are 62/ 0, 3 4, 3 shipped preferably through a'pipeline by means of 137/13 pneumatic pressure or through lines in which are provided mechanical devices such as conveyors or rollers.

[ References Cited Theoil can be frozen by itself into units or can be UNITED STATES PATENTS loaded into frozen and appropriately shaped ice con- 2,674,960 4/1954 DePasquale 426/280 miners Alternative to or in combination with the 302/14 aforementioned lines, vehicles may be employed and 137/13 part of the route may be covered by the use of gravity. The apparatus may include stations intermediate the source and terminal stations at which refreezing and reshaping operations take place.

3,328,089 6/1967 Hodgson et al. 3,519,006 7/1970 3,614,873 10/1971 3,650,119 3/1972 3,650,120 3/1972 3,730,201 5/1973 Lefever 137/13 3,772,895 11/1973 Abenroth 62/46 2 Claims, 16 Drawing Figures 50 v /Z6 CRUDE /Z2 O/L WATER i OMZ lV/ APPARATUS FOR IMPROVED SHIPPING OF CRUDE OIL RELATIVE TO ENVIRONMENT DAMAGE AND ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to the solving of various ecological problems including but not limited to environmental damage, and more particularly to improvements in the shipping of crude oil and the like which improvements operate to prevent or minimize environmental damage and ecological problems which have heretofore been incidental to the shipping of crude oil particularly across land routes.

BACKGROUND In recent times, attention has focussed on the amount of damage which can be done to the environment in cases of crude oil leakage during the shipment thereof whether by land or sea routes.

For example, much controversy has arisen relative to the overland shipping of crude oil from the rich deposits in Alaskas North Slope to the all weather port of Valdez with respect to which environmentally conscious individuals have raised numerous questions all of which must be balanced against domestic energy requirements. Additionally, much attention has been directed to the amount of damage caused by the sinking or breaking apart of tankers used in connection with oceanic routes.

As will be seen, the present invention avoids the problems which result from leaking pipelines or damaged tankers in a unique and novel way. This is accomplished by an approach which does not appear anticipated in any way by the prior art, although certain previously issued patents appear are known which relate to the shipping of various substances. Such prior patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,614,873; 2,938,359; and 2,929,22l.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,6l4,873 which issued to Cole, et al., on Oct. 26, l97l relates to the cleaning up of marine oil spills by freezing the surface layer of oil with dry ice or the like to enable the layer to be screened off the surface as a cake. It will be noted that the invention disclosed in this patent relates to the cleaning up of spills after they have occurred rather than to the prevention of such spills as in accordance with the provisions of the present invention. The patent in question, however, serves to set forth the problems which may be encountered as, for example, the fact that the release of oil on the surface of the sea prevents a formidable problem of cleanup and recovery with respect to which no infallible technique has been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,873 also serves to illustrate that crude oil is capable of being frozen to form a cake which can be picked up on screens or the like and mechanically removed from the surface of ater.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,359 which issued to Cobb, Jr., et al., on May 3l, [960 is directed to the storage and transportation of acetylene. As noted in this patent, one of the critical problems in large scale acetylene manufacture is the storage of acetylene and its transportation to consumers all of which results from the thermodynamic instability of liquefied and gaseous acetylene. This patent sets forth that pipeline transportation of acetylene is so hazardous that acetylene when used in substantial quantities must be produced where it is consumed because of the commercially infeasible means of transporting it. This patent proposes to obviate the commercial drawback in the storing and transporting of acetylene by heat exchanging a liquefied fuel gas such as methane with acetylene to solidify the acetylene and to transport the acetylene such as by barge or tugboat and to vaporize the solid acetylene at its destination whereby it may be fed directly to consumers. Thus it will be seen that this patent relates to acetylene and not to crude oil and, moreover, it will be seen that this patent relates to a technique which is useful in connection with vehicles only, such as transporting vehicles of the seagoing type.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,929,221 which issued to F. A. Clauson on Mar. 22, I960 relates to methods and apparatus for the transportation of liquefied petroleum gases. It is an object of that patent to provide new and improved apparatus by which liquified petroleum gases may be shipped economically over long distances and with respect to which the cost is negligible as compared with other means. As will be seen, that patent sets forth a method for maintaining a normally gaseous hydrocarbon in a liquid state in a container kept in spaced relationship with an outer receptacle open to atmospheric pressure including the provision of liquefied petroleum gas to the container, the provision to said outer receptacle of a petroleum product for surrounding said container and containing a constituent which is deposited as the ambient temperature of said product is decreased, and the formation of an insulating layer on the other wall surface of said container, said insulating layer being maintained concomitantly by deposit of said constituent from said product during the time of residence of the liquefied petroleum gas in its container. As will be seen hereinafter, this method has nothing whatsoever to do with either the broad or specific provisions of the present application.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus for moving crude oil or the like between two geographically displaced locations.

It is another object of the invention to provide for moving crude oil or the like between geographically displaced locations while avoiding environmental damage and ecological problems normally incidental to the shipping of crude oil or the like.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved technique for the shipping of crude oil which is applicable to the shipping of the same over either land or sea routes to a terminal station.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide improved techniques relative to the shipping of crude oil which provide for the preventing of spillage of the same rather than relating to the cleaning up of the same or the minimizing of damage after such spillage has occured.

Briefly in achieving the above and other objects of the invention, the technique provided in accordance therewith comprises limiting the ability of units of said crude oil to flow by a freezing operation at one of two geographically displaced locations to provide flow restricted units of said crude oil, and transporting said flow restricted units from said one location to another location geographically displaced from the first.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the freezing operation is effected by reducing the temperature of the oil, said technique further comprising heating the aforesaid units at the terminal location such that the crude oil regains its ability to flow.

In accordance with said one embodiment of the invention, the aforesaid units are created by freezing the crude oil into like geometrical forms such as cylindrical, cube-like or spherical forms.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, the aforesaid units are created by freezing water or the like to form open containerswhich are then filled with the oil and thereafter sealing the containers shut with frozen water or the like.

According to one aspect of the invention, the aforesaid units may be transported at least in part by displacing the same with a compressed pneumatic medium through a closed tube.

According to another aspect of the invention, the units may be at least partly transported by mechanical displacement through a tube or the like. More specifically, the units may be displaced by a conveyor. Alternatively, the units may be displaced over a series of rollers by means of mechanical driving forces. Still further the units may be at least partly transported by means of gravitational forces. Still further, the overall transportation picture with respect to such units may include in part the use of vehicles.

In addition to the aforesaid, the crude oil may be mixed with at least one additional fluid and the thusly resulting mixture may be frozen. The additional fluid which has been mentioned hereinabove may be, for example, water. In the event that units are formed with the use of an additional fluid, the overall method will comprise melting the units and separating the crude oil from the thusly melted mixture.

According to still an additional aspect of the invention, the technique thereof may comprise refreezing the unit during the movement of the same between the aforementioned geographically displacedl locations. Additionally, the technique of the invention may comprise maintaining the units in frozen condition during the transporting thereof by the use of at least one refreezing operation. Alternatively or in combination with the aforegoing aspect of the invention, the technique set forth herein may comprise maintaining the units in .frozen condition during at least part of the transporting thereof by means of ambient temperature.

The transporting of the units discussed hereinabove may take place at least in part through a channel adapted to the form of the units.

The apparatus of the invention will comprise freezing means to freeze the crude oil into units and transportation means to transport the units from one location to another. The freezing means may be a means to reduce the temperature of the oil below the freezing point thereof. It may alternatively include a freezing means which includes mold means to mold the units in like forms.

The transportation means mentioned hereinabove may include a tube through which the units are transported. The transportation means may further comprise pneumatic pressure means to force the units through a tube of the type indicated above. Conveyor means may also be provided to carry the units through said tube and, as a further alternative, a series of rollers may be provided with the tube along with mechanical means to move the-units along the rollers.

According to another aspect of the invention, the apparatus thereof may include freezing means which includes a mold means to freeze open containers from a fluid other than crude oil, means to pour oil into said containers and means to close said containers with additional frozen fluid. In this event there will be provided, at the terminal station, a means to melt the aforesaid units and to separate the oil from the other fluid.

The above and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a flow restricted unit in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a flow restricted unit of crude oil provided in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a flow restricted unit of crude oil provided in accordance with a third em bodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a flow restricted unit of the invention in which crude oil is contained within a frozen container of ice, the view showing the unit with the cover removed;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line V-V with the cover applied;

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of a portion of the apparatus of the invention for use at a source station;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatical illustration of a portion of a pipeline provided in accordance with the invention, starting at the source station;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of an apparatus for conveying the units of FIGS. 15 in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic illustration of apparatus for freezing units of crude oil in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic illustration of a mold for freezing containers and filling the same with crude oil in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 11 diagrammatically illustrates a further embodiment of the invention in the form of apparatus for transporting units of crude oil as illustrated in FIGS. 1-5;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view through a pipeline through which is transported a flow restricted unit of crude oil provided in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 13 diagrammatically illustrates a further type of line for transporting a unit of crude oil provided in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates a terminal unit for a terminal station for receiving the units of FIGS. l-5 and for melting the same and recovering the crude oil therefrom;

FIG. 15 is a diagrammatic illustration of a system embodying the apparatus illustrated in the figures described hereinabove; and

FIG. 16 illustrates yet a further embodiment of the invention in the form of apparatus for utilizing gravitational forces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Basically the invention consists of an apparatus for avoiding ecological problems such as contamination of v method comprises limiting the ability of the units of said crude oil to flow by a freezing operation at one of said locations to provide flow restricted units of said crude oil and transporting said flow restricted units from said one location to the other. As will be shown, this may take the form of reducing the temperature of the crude oil to a point at which it solidifies as, for example, in the shape of a 55 gallon drum or some other convenient shape for being transported through a tube or a pipeline by a system involving pneumatic pressure or endless conveyors or other such mechanical means to propel the flow restricted units of the invention, there being provided stations at intervals along the length of the pipeline or conveyance system of the invention to maintain the solidification or, in other words, the 'flow restriction of the units which are being conveyed.

Once the theory of the invention is known, its advantages become apparent. First and primary, is the advantageous result that leakage or spillage is avoided since the crude oil is being transported in solid form. Thus, damage to the environment and other similar ecological problems are prevented before they can ever occur. Moreover, the right-of-way would be one simple and very narrow lane which will contain the pipeline and the substations which contain the refreezing equipment along the route which is to be traversed. It will be noted, especially with respect to situations such as exist in Alaska that the entire installation can be underground or overground with no danger to the environment being involved and that the natural ambient temperature of the environment will assist in minimizing the costs involved in both forming the units required in accordance with the invention and maintaining the temperature and flow restriction of the same while enroute.

FIGS. 1-3 illustrate some forms of flow restricted units of crude oil provided in accordance with the invention, the methods and apparatus for forming these units being indicated in greater detail hereinafter.

More particularly, FIG. 1 illustrates a tank-shaped unit of crude oil which is of cylindrical form. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the size of the cylinder of FIG. 1 will correspond, for

.example, to a 55 gallon drum. However, it is also envisioned that the cylinder will come in larger or smaller forms and, as a matter of fact, the cylindrical form indicated in FIG. 1 may be as small, for example, as pint sized cans or even smaller depending upon the nature of the conveying pipeline or other such apparatus which is to be employed.

FIG. 2 illustrates that the form of the flow restricted unit of crude oil in accordance with the invention may be of cube-like shape such as indicated at 22. FIG. 3 indicates a spherical shape 24. Preferably only one form will be used at a time but it is conceivable that two or a limited number of controllably shaped units can be handled under certain conditions without disadvantage and sometimes with advantage.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the flow restriction is not necessarily a flow restriction which is caused by freezing of the crude oil itself. Instead, a container such as indicated at 26 may be frozen from a fluid other than crude oil such as water, the cylinder 26 being of cylindrical form and being filled with crude oil as indicated at 28 which may be of liquid or of frozen form depending upon the circumstances involved. Thus, for example, if the temperature is sufficiently low and maintained sufficiently low along the route of transportation, the crude oil 28 within the ice cylinder 26 may be additionally frozen and thus the entire aggregate will tend to form substantially a monolithic mass of which the outer shell consists of frozen water.

FIG. 5 which is a sectional view taken along line V-V of FIG. 4 illustrates that the cylinder 26 containing the crude oil 28 may be provided with a cover 30 which consists of water or other such fluid frozen in place in the mouth of the cylinder 26 to cover the crude oil 28 and hold the same in position. In this event the cylinder 26 and the cover 30 therefor will providea monolithic container whereof the cover 30 is integral with the cylinder 26 to maintain the crude oil in position without the possibility of leakage. This arrangement is also a flow restricted unit of the invention.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, it is possible, in order to control the freezing point of the crude oil, that the crude oil be mixed with a fluid such as water or the like by means of centrifuging or by any process adapted to homogenize the-oil and water mixture to form an emulsion or the like, this process being preferably attended by the use of a surface active agent or a soap or the like which will permit the mixing of the otherwise immiscible fluids. Thereafter, the thusly resulting mixture will be frozen into one of the shapes indicated in FIGS. 1, 2 or 3 or any other suitable shape adapted to the pipeline under consideration as will be seen hereinafter.

As is illustrated in FIG. 6, the sourcestation at which the units of the above type are initially provided may consist of a freezer 32 at which the freezing operation indicated above takes place, there being also provided a conveyance tube as indicated at 34 which is connected to the freezer 32 by means of an intermediate tube or connection indicated at 36. The units may be manually or automatically transported through the interconnecting tube 36 to the conveyance unit 34 which may be a pneumatically operated tube or a tube in which a mechanical transportation operation takes place as will be indicated hereinafter in greater detail.

If the conveyance tube 34 illustrated in FIG. 6 is of the pneumatic type, a compressed air source such as indicated at 38 will be provided which will feed compressed air to the conveyance tube 34 in order to convey the units of the invention through the conveyance tube to the related destination.

Additionally illustrated in FIG. 6 is a cooler 40. The cooler 40 serves to reduce the temperature of the compressed air in order to avoid the melting of the flow restricted units of the invention when the latter come into contact with the compressed air provided by the compressed air source 38. The arrow 42 is intended to indicate the direction of transporting of the flow restricted units of the invention.

FIG. 7 indicates generally the transportation of units of the invention over a mountain indicated generally at 44. In FIG. 7 appears a source station 46 which may be of the above indicated type with a pipeline 48 operating in connection therewith and including a horizontal section 50 and an ascending section 52 connected to a descending section 54 and a second horizontal section 56. A way section such as indicated at 58 may be provided in accordance with the invention, such way station having provisions for refreezing the flow restricted units of the invention should they tend in the least degree to melt due to friction as between the units and the pipeline or due to ambient atmospheric conditions.

In FIG.. 7 are furthermore indicated a series of poles 60 which support an electrical power line 62 for purposes of conveying electrical energy from the source station 46 to the way station 58 and to subsequent way stations or intermediate stations as may be required along the route. This electrical power will serve the purpose of operating the forming and/or freezing and- /or refreezing units as may be required along the route of transportation.

FIG. 8 illustrates diagrammatically an embodiment of the invention for conveying the flow restricted units of the invention and operable in conjunction with a freezer 66. In FIG. 8 is illustrated a line or pipeline 68 within which is diagrammatically illustrated a conveyor 70, there being a number of units 72, 74, 76 and 78, for example, being conveyed by the conveyor 70 in the direction illustrated by the arrow 80, said units being flow restricted units formed by a freezing operation or by any other operation consistent with the general overall requirements of the invention.

In FIG. 8 is furthermore illustrated a way station or refreezer such as appears at 82, the function of this station being to receive the flow restricted units of the invention and to reform and/or refreeze the same for further transportation along a further conveyor as is indicated at 84. It is to be noted that the nature and form of the conveyor is illustrated in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8 are not the concern of the present invention and that various forms of conveyors may be employed as will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art involved. Also, it will be noted that the flow restricted units can be manually or automatically transferred between conveyors. 1

FIG. 9 diagrammatically illustrates apparatus provided in accordance with the invention for creating flow restricted units of crude oil by the freezing of the same. This apparatus can also be used for refreezing and/or reshaping said units. v

The apparatus illustrated in FIG. 9 comprises a cylindrical mold 86 surrounded by a cooling coil 88, the purpose of which is to reduce the temperature of crude oil placed within the mold 86 to a point whereat the crude oil solidifies. This freezing operation is only diagrammatically illustrated since the details pertaining to the freezing are not the concern of the present invention.

Within the cylindrical mold 86 is a piston 90 provided with a piston rod 92 to which a force is applied in order to drive the piston in the direction indicated by the arrow 94. After a unit of crude oil hasbeen frozen within the cylindrical mold 88, it is displaced by the movement of the piston 90 to a position whereat it is level with the plane indicated at 96, this plane representing the top of the horizontal member 98, 100 which is provided with an opening 102 through which the thusly resulting flow restricted unit can be displaced.

A piston 104 provided with a piston rod 106 is displaced by means of a force supplied to the rod 106 in the direction indicated by the arrow 108 in order that the flow restricted unit last generated within the mold 86 be displaced to make room for the next sequential unit to be generated. It will be understood that, in accordance with theinvention, a plurality of even a multitude of such molds can be provided in order to freeze the units at any desired rate. It will also be appreciated from what has been stated hereinabove that the flow restricted units to be generated may consist purely of crude oil or may consist of a mixture of crude oils with another fluid in order to effect the freezing point of the resulting mixture as desired.

It will of course be understood that should ambient temperature be low enough it might be possible to freeze the units of the invention by the use of the ambient temperature alone. In such event, it would then be necessary to heat the crude oil in order to enable the same to flow into cylindrical molds such as indicated at 86 whereafter the freezing would take place naturally and the displacements referred to above with respect to arrows 94 and 86 would result or take place as necessary and desired. I

FIG. 10 illustrates an apparatus provided in accordance with the invention for generating units of crude oil within frozen capsules such as has been discussed above. In this event, there may also be provided a cylindrical mold such as indicated at 110 within which is provided a piston 112 to which is affixed a piston rod 114 for displacement in the direction indicated by arrow 116.

In this case, there is provided an inner mold member 118 which is mounted on a rod 120 for reciprocal displacement in the direction indicated by arrow 122. The positioning of the member 118 within the mold 110 leaves a peripheral space 124 within which can be loaded a fluid such as water from a source such as indicated at 126 through a spout 128. When thereafter the water is frozen by cooling coils (not shown), the member 118 is withdrawn and the opening left by the withdrawal of this member is filled with crude oil from a source such as indicated at 130 through a spout 132. The crude oil is charged into the opening left by withdrawal of the member 118 to an extent which is short of the top of the frozen container thusly formed whereafter water 128 is flowed onto the top of the thusly charged crude oil and is flash frozen before it has had opportunity to mix with the curde oil although some amount of mixture is obviously not harmful to the process. The thusly formed cover will form a monolithic mass with the thusly formed container and the entire unit is a flow restricted unit of crude oil which is then ready for transportation by any of the means heretofore indicated.

FIG. 11 illustrates a further apparatus which may be employed in accordance with the invention, this apparatus also including a source station such as indicated at 140, there being provided, within this source, a table or platform 142 downstream of which is a series of rollers such as indicated at 144. A number of units are illustrated in FIG. 11 as being transported along the series of rollers 144, these units being indicated by way of example at 146, 148, and 152, the series of rollers 144 extending to a second platform or table 154.

In order that the flow restricted units be transported along the rollers 144, there is provided a drive cable 156 which is driven by a driving wheel 158 which is in turn driven by a rotary drive 160, the nature and form of which will be obvious to those having ordinary skill in the, art. Cooperating with the cable 156 at its further extremity is an idling roller 162 supported by an idler bearing member 164, the idler roller 162 permitting the driving of the cable 156 under the control of the rotary drive 160 as required.

In order that the movement of the cable 156 be imparted to the aforesaid flow restricted units, there are mounted on the cable 156 a plurality of dogs such as indicated at 170, 172, 174 and 176, there being as many dogs as required to occupy the extent of the cable 156 without permitting the units to move into contact with one another. Also, intermediate supports (not shown) can be provided for supporting the cable 156 in order that the latter not be permitted to sag to any undue extent.

The station 178 which is occupied by the idler 164 may be further provided with a refreezing and/or reshaping unit as may be required for shaping the units after they have been transported over the rollers 144.

FIG. 12 illustrates a cross-section through a pipeline provided in accordance with the invention for transporting flow restricted units formed as has been indicated above. In FIG. 11 is indicated, by way of example, a pipeline 180 within which is being transported a unit 182 under the influence of gravitational forces or due to the application of a pneumatic pressure fluid such as compressed air or the like.

FIG. 13 illustrates in transverse cross-section a further line which may be employed in accordance with the invention. Herein appears a U-shaped channel 184 in which is being transported a flow restricted unit 186 as discussed hereinabove. A channel such as indicated at 184 will generally be used as a toboggan slide only, wherein the unit 186 is transported by means of gravitational forces. In order to avoid the intrusion of impeding elements such as ice and sleet, the unit will be shielded along with the channel 184 by means ofa shed 188, the purpose of which is to prevent the deposit of rain, sleet and/or snow or the like within the channel of the unit 184.

The tubes or units 180 and 184 mentioned herein above may be fabricated of a metal such as steel and may be of the type of metal used in conventional pipelines. Preferably, in order to avoid the effects of protruding bolts, seams and the like, the inside surface of such tubes or pipes may be lined with a low friction plastic such as Teflon or the like suitable for permitting the transportation therealong of units of crude oil frozen as indicated above or contained in frozen containers as has also been described above.

FIG. 14 diagrammatically illustrates the apparatus required at a terminal station whereat a unit 190 appears after having been delivered through a tube 192 to the station 194. The unit 190 is shown as being received on a platform or table 196 wherefrom it is manually or automatically removed for displacement into a heating vat and possibly separator unit 198 which functions to convert the flow restricted units into a pool of crude oil which is adapted to flow in liquid form and which may be dispensed through an outlet pipe 202 as indicated by arrow 200. The heating vat will serve the purpose of either melting the frozen type of unit discussed hereinabove or melting the frozen container of the crude oil or melting the mixture of crude oil and water or other such fluid as have been described hereinabove. In the event that a fluid is involved other than crude oil alone (i.e., the melted frozen water container), the vat 198 will provide for separating such as by siphoning off the crude oil from its position relative to the other fluid involved. It will be noted that flocculents can be provided to aid in the separation particularly if there has been employed a surface active agent for mixing the crude oil with another fluid as has been mentioned hereinabove.

FIG. 15 diagrammatically illustrates that the basic unit of the invention consists of a first location or source indicated at 204, a terminal station 206, one or more intermediate stations 208, connecting pipelines 210 and 212 or the like and, if required, a pneumatic pressure and cooling unit such as indicated at 214 for supplying cooled pneumatic medium to the lines 210 and 212 for driving the flow restricted units from station to station until the units ultimately arrive at terminal station 206. FIG. 15 furthermore indicates that there is a source of electrical power such as indicated at 216, this being connected by lines 218, 220 and 222 to all of the stations as required.

As has been mentioned hereinabove the use of gravitational power is within the scope of the invention and it is possible that the frozen units of the invention or flow restricted units of the invention may be permitted to ride down a channel very much in the nature of a toboggan. However, it is preferred that the units be guided through a descending pipe indicated, for example, in FIG. 16 at 230. For this purpose, there is provided a series of rollers 232 in association with which is a cable 234 provided with restraints or dogs such as indicated at 236 so that the unit 238 can move in the direction indicated by arrow 240 at a controlled pace separated from the preceeding and trailing units so that no contact can result therebetween thereby lessening v the possibility of damage so that the requirement of refreezing and reshaping is minimized.

From what has been described above, it will now be appreciated that the aforementioned techniques can be combined with one another so that, for example, apparatus of the invention may collectively involve the use of conveyors, rollers, gravitational sections, pneumatic sections and so forth. It will also be appreciated that the channels required for the gravitational displacement of units such as, for example, along a downward slope may sometimes be fashioned in the terrain or environment itself in the form of toboggan slides so that it is possible to avoid the installation of pipes along sections of downward slope which are suitable for the purpose. However, in this case, the ambient temperature must be sufficient to retain the flow restricted units in the shape and solid form required so that there is no danger of any deposit of crude oil on the environment to any extent which might involve pollution or damage.

It will also be appreciated from what has been stated hereinabove that sections may be constituted as has been indicated and connected by transportation linkages consisting of vehicles such as trucks, sleds, seagoing vehicles or the like, the flow restricted units being maintained in the desired form either by ambient temperature or by the use of freezing compartments of a nature which will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art involved.

From what has been stated, it will be understood that the invention provides a techniqueof avoiding ecological problems while moving crude oil or the like between two geographically displaced locations, said technique comprising limiting the ability of said units of crude oil to flow by a freezing operation at one of said locations to provide flow restricted units of said crude oil and transporting said flow restricted units from said one location to the other location. While reference has been made herein to the use of temperature reduction in order to provide the flow restricted units of the invention, said flow restricted units may be provided in accordance with further embodiments by the use of chemicals or the like which are applied to the crude oil to provide a plurality of multitude of flow restricted units of like shape provided that such chemicals can be subsequently removed without having permanently damaged the character and nature of the crude oil to be transported.

Principally, however, the invention is concerned with freezing a multitude of flow restricted units by reducing the temperature of the crude oil which is to be transported so that the crude oil can be transported in regular geometrical form to a terminal location whereat the crude oil may be melted to regain its ability to flow.

The flow restricted units of the invention are preferably of like geometrical form such as cylinders, cubes, spheres or the like. The flow restricted units may moreover be crude oil frozen into containers formed of ice and sealed in these containers by covers frozen onto the containers and forming a monolithic: structure therewith.

In accordance with the invention, the units may be displaced by a pneumatic or pressure medium through a closed tube or may be mechanically displaced such as by conveyors or other such driving units. Additionally, transportation may be effected by gravitational forces, vehicles and the like, although preferably the use of vehicles will be in conjunction with sections of pipelines and other such conveying apparatus as has been described hereinabove;

There will now be obvious to those skilled in the art many modifications and variations of the methods and constructions set forth hereinabove. These modifications and variations will not depart from the scope of the invention if defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for avoiding ecological problems while moving crude oil between two geographically displaced locations, said apparatus comprising freezing means to freeze said oil into units, and transport means to transport said units from one location to the other, said freezing means including mold means to mold said units in like geometrical forms, said transportation means including a tube through which said units are transported, said tube having a cross-section corresponding to that of said geometrical forms, said freezing means including mold means to freeze open containers from a fluid other than said crude oil, means to pour oil into said containers, and means to close said containers, and means to close said containers with ad ditional frozen fluid.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising means to melt said units and separate said oil. 

1. Apparatus for avoiding ecological problems while moving crude oil between two geographically displaced locations, said apparatus comprising freezing means to freeze said oil into units, and transport means to transport said units from one location to the other, said freezing means including mold means to mold said units in like geometrical forms, said transportation means including a tube through which said units are transported, said tube having a cross-section corresponding to that of said geometrical forms, said freezing means including mold means to freeze open containers from a fluid other than said crude oil, means to pour oil into said containers, and means to close said containers, and means to close said containers with additional frozen fluid.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising means to melt said units and separate said oil. 